Great Way to Review Any Concept and Have Fun While Learning
Hot Seat Battle is one of those simple, low-prep games that can work in almost any classroom and any subject area. With a few tweaks, you can use it to review vocabulary, key concepts, historical figures, math terms, or even grammar without adding more to your planning plate.
The Game
In this version of Hot Seat, the class is broken into teams, and one student from each team sits at the front with their back facing the board. On the board, you write a concept, vocabulary word, or key idea you want students to review.
The twist: Teammates can see the word, the hot-seat students cannot.
Their job? Guess the word or concept.
Their team’s job? Describe it clearly without actually saying it.
Because students must explain, define, give examples, and connect ideas, they end up doing exactly the kind of thinking we want during review: using academic language, making connections, and listening closely to each other.
Alternate Names
You can give your game a fun name to match your classroom vibe, like:
How to Play: Step-by-Step
1. Set up Teams and Seats
Divide your class into 2–4 teams. Place one chair per team at the front of the room, all facing away from the board. Choose one student from each team to sit in the “hot seat.”
2. Prepare the Board
Before each round, write one concept, term, or name on the board. This could be a unit vocabulary word, a historical event, a character from a novel, a math operation, a science process—anything you want students to remember and use.
3. Explain the Rules for Clues
Teammates must describe what they see on the board without:
- Saying the actual word
- Saying obvious parts of the word or spelling it
- Using rhymes, if you want to keep it more challenging
Encourage them to use definitions, examples, synonyms, “it’s the opposite of…”, “you use this when…,” and even gestures if that fits your classroom.
4. Play a Round
When you say “Go,” start a timer (30–60 seconds works well).
Teams talk only to their own hot-seat player, giving as many clues as they can. The hot-seat students shout out guesses as they go.
Award Points
When a hot-seat student guesses correctly, pause the round and award points (see ideas below). Then reset with a new word and new hot-seat students.
Rotate and Repeat
Rotate who sits in the hot seat so many students get a turn. Continue until you’ve used all your review terms or your time is up. A quick debrief at the end—“Which word was hardest? Which one felt easy now?”—can turn the game into a mini-formative assessment.
Why Hot Seat Works
Hot Seat turns dry review into a fast-paced, team-based challenge where students need each other to succeed. The “clue givers” practice explaining and defining, and the “guessers” practice listening and making quick connections. It also gives you a live snapshot of which terms students own and which ones need more support.
You can run it as a 5–10 minute warm-up, an end-of-unit review, or even a brain break that still keeps content front and center. With just a board, a timer, and a few chairs, you get rich language, active engagement, and a lot of joyful noise about your content.
Work Smarter, Not Harder
Looking for another Engaging Idea:
Purchase Small Group Role Cards. These will help everyone to feel included during small group projects, activities, and assignments.
Copy, laminate and use for your small groups.
Write your awesome label here.
Games like Hot Seat turn test review into talk time/ Students do the thinking, and teachers get to actually listen to what they know.
- Center for Best Educational Solutions
- Center for Best Educational Solutions
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